Overwatch players have finally learned about the Sombra buffs coming to the hero, along with notable adjustments to several other characters.

The newly revealed Overwatch hero, Wrecking Ball, was recently added to the game’s public test region, and with him came an array of tweaks to a handful of existing heroes. The most significant of these changes were made to offense hero Sombra, following earlier promises that she would eventually see some buffs.

In an effort to fit Sombra more comfortably into her role as an infiltrator, the durations of the character’s Stealth and Translocator abilities have been made infinite. This may sound drastic, but additional tweaks accompany these buffs to keep Sombra from becoming too powerful, such as a reduction to her speed boost while invisible, and the new opportunity for enemies to destroy her Translocator. She can also no longer contest objectives while invisible, so enemies won’t have to spend their time combing every inch of a point looking for her.

The second biggest change that arrived on the PTR is more systemic, focusing on several different heroes of similar roles. The adjustments involve the damage falloff range of five medium-to-long range damage dealers, including Bastion, McCree, Mei, Solider: 76, and Widowmaker. Bastion, McCree, and Solider all saw the same buff of their minimum damage at max range increased from 30 percent to 50 percent. Mei had the damage falloff of her secondary fire removed entirely, and Widowmaker had a 50 percent falloff added to her automatic fire, which was previously uncapped.

The final change found in the latest PTR patch notes is a gift to those that have been getting ravaged by Hanzo following his recent rework. Hanzo was easily the game’s most overpowered character after the changes, and even though he was hit with a nerf shortly after, he remained one of the game’s most dangerous damage dealers. This new update reduces the duration and increases the cooldown of his new Storm Arrow ability, which will hopefully limit this sniper’s medium-ranged damage potential.

The update is now live on the game’s PTR, and is expected to hit the full game in a week or two, along with the new hero. As usual, all of these adjustments are subject to change prior to the full launch. This massive update was revealed unusually shortly after the previous update, which introduced the Symmetra rework and several new social features.

About Nick Plessas

Nick didn’t start gaming until mid-2006. Once his parents finally allowed a console into the house, it was all uphill from there. Starting out with a PS2, he grew an affinity for Sony consoles and moved on to the PS3, and now the PS4. He keeps his gaming palette wide, but, gun to his head, he’d have to say shooters are his genre of choice. Find him on Twitter @idole808

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Overwatch’s Sombra to get some of game’s most powerful buffs ever

Sombra may be lagging behind now, but this change could boost her right to the top.

Overwatch players have finally learned about the Sombra buffs coming to the hero, along with notable adjustments to several other characters.

The newly revealed Overwatch hero, Wrecking Ball, was recently added to the game’s public test region, and with him came an array of tweaks to a handful of existing heroes. The most significant of these changes were made to offense hero Sombra, following earlier promises that she would eventually see some buffs.

In an effort to fit Sombra more comfortably into her role as an infiltrator, the durations of the character’s Stealth and Translocator abilities have been made infinite. This may sound drastic, but additional tweaks accompany these buffs to keep Sombra from becoming too powerful, such as a reduction to her speed boost while invisible, and the new opportunity for enemies to destroy her Translocator. She can also no longer contest objectives while invisible, so enemies won’t have to spend their time combing every inch of a point looking for her.

The second biggest change that arrived on the PTR is more systemic, focusing on several different heroes of similar roles. The adjustments involve the damage falloff range of five medium-to-long range damage dealers, including Bastion, McCree, Mei, Solider: 76, and Widowmaker. Bastion, McCree, and Solider all saw the same buff of their minimum damage at max range increased from 30 percent to 50 percent. Mei had the damage falloff of her secondary fire removed entirely, and Widowmaker had a 50 percent falloff added to her automatic fire, which was previously uncapped.

The final change found in the latest PTR patch notes is a gift to those that have been getting ravaged by Hanzo following his recent rework. Hanzo was easily the game’s most overpowered character after the changes, and even though he was hit with a nerf shortly after, he remained one of the game’s most dangerous damage dealers. This new update reduces the duration and increases the cooldown of his new Storm Arrow ability, which will hopefully limit this sniper’s medium-ranged damage potential.

The update is now live on the game’s PTR, and is expected to hit the full game in a week or two, along with the new hero. As usual, all of these adjustments are subject to change prior to the full launch. This massive update was revealed unusually shortly after the previous update, which introduced the Symmetra rework and several new social features.

About Nick Plessas

Nick didn’t start gaming until mid-2006. Once his parents finally allowed a console into the house, it was all uphill from there. Starting out with a PS2, he grew an affinity for Sony consoles and moved on to the PS3, and now the PS4. He keeps his gaming palette wide, but, gun to his head, he’d have to say shooters are his genre of choice. Find him on Twitter @idole808